Credit and financial and payment infrastructure of Volgograd region: trends and prospects of development

The aim of the work is to assess the state of the main parameters of credit and financial and payment services of the economy of Volgograd region (institutional provision with banking services, indicators of attraction and investment of funds, retail payment infrastructure) and to establish trends in their dynamics in comparison with the data on Russia and the Southern Federal district. The authors establish that the territorial provision with banking services is characterized by unevenness; the reduction of banking institutions has affected Volgograd region to a greater extent; but the disproportions are partially compensated by the transformation of organizing banking activities, technology and communications according to the digital type. The assessment of indicators of credit and savings services in Volgograd region shows that the greatest credit activity is observed in the sphere of individual lending; loans to legal entities and individual entrepreneurs are declining; deposits, funds in the accounts of legal entities and individuals are growing at a higher rate than in the country as a whole. The assessment of the primary retail infrastructure of the payment market shows that in Volgograd region, in comparison with the Russian Federation, there is an exceeding growth of ATMs and electronic terminals; it is natural to reduce the number of contact imprinters with the simultaneous growth of electronic terminals, which characterizes the strengthening of innovative banking services. Territorial disproportions in the provision of the Russian Federation with credit and financial and payment infrastructure with negative dynamics of Volgograd region are found and that is one of the reasons of lagging of social and economic development of the region. The conditions of credit and financial and payment infrastructure of Volgograd region, the issues concerning mechanisms of leveling the infrastructural availability of financial services in the region due to the diffusion of technological innovations as conductors and channels of remote access to modern financial services can become the directions of further research.